The early life of the American automotive industrialist who founded the Ford Motor Company and pioneered in assembly-line methods of mass production.

Born on a small farm in rural Michigan, Henry Ford’s humble beginnings were no match for his ambition. Ford quickly created a manufacturing dynasty, bringing affordable cars to the masses and forever changing America and the American workplace. Who Was Henry Ford? details his meteoric rise, and explains how the genius behind the assembly line and the Model T shaped modern American industry.

Henry Ford for Kids provides an in-depth portrait of the man who "put America on wheels." You'll learn about Ford's childhood on a Michigan farm, where the budding engineer loved to take apart and reassamble everything from toys to watches to machinery; about his revolutionary labor ideas, including paying higher wages and hiring women and the disabled at a time when many companies would not; about his fervent opposition to war and the lasting impact of his widespread philanthropy. But you'll also learn that this automotive giant was a flawed individual whose controversial views and heavy-handed management style alienated many, yet whose engineering genius and impact on the world are undeniable. Packed with historic photos and illuminating sidebars, the book brings the turn of the 20th century to life. Twenty-one hands-on activities encourage young innovators to apply engineering and production ideas and learn more about the era. Kids will build a lemon-powered battery; form an assembly line; learn to "read" simple industrial drawings; design an automobile dashboard; learn to dance the waltz; and much more.

How a Michigan farm boy became the richest man in America is a classic, almost mythic tale, but never before has Henry Ford’s outsized genius been brought to life so vividly as it is in this engaging and superbly researched biography. The real Henry Ford was a tangle of contradictions. He set off the consumer revolution by producing a car affordable to the masses, all the while lamenting the moral toll exacted by consumerism. He believed in giving his workers a living wage, though he was entirely opposed to union labor. He had a warm and loving relationship with his wife, but sired a son with another woman. A rabid anti-Semite, he nonetheless embraced African American workers in the era of Jim Crow. Uncovering the man behind the myth, situating his achievements and their attendant controversies firmly within the context of early twentieth-century America, Watts has given us a comprehensive, illuminating, and fascinating biography of one of America’s first mass-culture celebrities.

Discusses the life and accomplishments of Henry Ford, a man who changed the American way of life in the 1900s by inventing the Model T and founding the Ford Motor Company.

Carefully crafted from thousands of Ford archives, written interviews, and first-hand accounts told by people who knew the man, Edsel: The Story of Henry Ford's Forgotten Son, brings into focus the remarkable life of Edsel Ford. The book chronicle's Edsel's life from his early days of growing up in and around his father's company, through the controversy of his World War I draft notice and eventual exemption, the design change from the Model T to the Model A, and the creation of the Ford Foundation. 27 chapters in all help to shed light on the life of a man who preferred to spend most of his life out of the limelight.